Hearts on the Sleeve
by Karianasan
Summary: Unable to fix the broken boiler, Velma has to call in the professionals. But when she finds the others, she's surprised at their method for keeping warm. And the eventual plan to keep them all warm until help arrives. Everyday/Slice of Life. Made this for a Feb, Valentines Prompt. Just the gang being cute together, enjoying each others company. Enjoy, and comments/reviews welcome!
1. Hearts on the Sleeve

"Sigh, so much for that..."

Letting loose a breath, Velma found herself at an impasse. For the last hour or so, she had been trying to figure out just why the boiler wasn't heating the house that cold winter's morning. Their house was old. And no matter how many repairs and upkeep they did, there were still a decent amount of leaks and cracks that made the chill seep into every corner of the Mystery Inc household. Without the heater doing it's job, it was going to get cold. And the weather outside wasn't helping. Shivering a second, Velma rubbed her arms to warm up a bit. Thankful for her thick sweater to ward her from the crisp chill. (_ignoring that she was still in her classic red pleated, short skirt._)

As skilled as she was in general maintenance of the house, some things were left up to the professionals.

The last thing she wanted, was to break their heater and make a repair even worse. They were in the middle of winter, so not a risk she was willing to risk. Taking the time, she called their local repairman they used for things like this. And while the weather outside was a bit frightful, snow covering most of the state. It was going to be possible for someone to arrive later that day to come to look at the boiler for her. All she had to do, was wait.

"Well, I should tell the rest of the gang what is going on."

It was a while since she had last seen one of them. Daphne had come down to the basement a while ago to check on her progress, but it had been some time since then. Thinking about it though, there was only one spot she could think of that the gang was probably in. Since the living room had a fireplace, that is the most logical place she figured they might end up when the house got cold. At least when it wasn't night time, and they were all burrowed under their own covers.

Wandering to the first floor, Velma came up the stairs and turned into the living room via the nearby archway that connected the common area to the hallway that led to a bunch of the other rooms. Also the basement that she was coming up from. And as she suspected, the gang was huddled in front of the fireplace. Though two things stuck out. One... the fireplace didn't seem to be lit yet.

"What the..." And the second thing she noticed... made her pause. Shaking her head, she huffed and stamped a foot down at the sight. Both hands coming up and thrust outwards towards them in bewilderment.

"... Excuse me?! Are you wearing **_MY_** _sweaters!_"

Flabbergasted at what she was seeing before her, the gang turned to stare surprised at her sudden appearance and almost shouting accusation at them. For before the brunette woman, the rest of her gang seemed to have dawned on her beloved sweaters. Not just Daphne, which her best friend had stolen them in the past. Oh no... But also each of the guys as well! She knew from personal experience that they were in fact... warm. But she really didn't expect to come around the corner and find her friends huddled in a pile, all wearing her classic top apparel.

"Ruh Roh." Like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar, Scooby shied away from Velma's stare. Burrowing into the sweater and hiding behind the others.

"Velma, we can explain!" Fred spoke up first from the group. His neck tucked deep into the turtleneck seeking warmth from it. Hands coming up to try to defend his actions. Forearms and wrists waving from her cuffed sleeves. At least his ascot matched, as he had pulled it to be tied around the neckline of her clothing.

"It's Daphne's fault!" Shaggy pointed the finger quickly, ratting out the red head for her idea.

"I **just** cleaned _those..._" Velma whined softly, having started a load of laundry before the whole thing with the boiler happened. Her clothing making it to the dryer, to work on the long process of getting those sweaters dry after a good wash. She wasn't really mad at them, but that was four less sweaters for her to then have to wash again later.

"I know!" Said Daphne with a cheery nod. "That is where we stole them from! We were cold waiting for you, and well... The dryer rang out and provided the perfect solution in the interim. So, I brought the guys over and we decided to take in the warmth of your sweaters while we waited to hear how things were going."

"What's the verdict?"

"Sigh, I can't blame you. Fresh from the dryer is hard to compete against." Once the surprise passed, she could understand their solution to the current problem. At least they still had power, and warming though the dryer was an option. Compared to if the reason they didn't have heat, was more of a power issue like a blackout.

"But we will have to wait on a repair man to take a look at the boiler. I couldn't see what was wrong and didn't want to make things worst by poking around. They said they would be here later in the afternoon, but no specifics." So, they would have to wait. But most likely, they would call before showing up on the front porch.

"Why didn't you guys put on the fireplace to help warm you up?" Warm dryer sweaters, were all well and good. But it made sense to Velma that a good fire would be a more lasting solution.

"You remember how we had been having that warm snap for a bit..." Shaggy sheepishly itched the side of his face, feeling bashful. "Well, since it had been so warm for a while, I didn't think to stock up on any wood yet. The winter has been being a mix of weird warm and cold days, that it was not something I had in mind when this blizzard like conditions rolled in."

Waving his arms toward the bow window, the snow was obvious now. But hindsight is 2020. It was too late to worry about that fact, and it wasn't desperate enough for them to do something drastic like burning furniture or shock! Even books! Help was on the way, so they wouldn't have to go post apocalyptic and break down things for kindling.

The gang would have to figure out a temporary solution till the repairman would be heading over. They just would have to find a way to bide their time and stay warm till help arrived.

"Well, as nice as a layer of sweaters are against the cold. We might have to do something else while we wait to keep warm." Velma knew the extent of her sweaters well. And even though the rest of the gang had been doubling up, the warm from the dryer would be wearing off eventually. And they might need something more substantial to keep them warm.

"Hey Daph, you have that fluffy type, food sounding poofy blanket... Right?" Shaggy pondered aloud a solution, but didn't remember what it was called off the top of his term for the blanket generally escaping him, but recalling enough to get close to what he thought it was.

"A donut?" Fred offered, with a grin across his face telling that he knew what it really was called, and was just being a butt about it. Snickering at his own joke and matching what Shaggy had said. Earning an amused head shake from Velma and a snort of indignation from Daphne.

"It's a duvet, not a donut. You **donut.**" Not the wittiest of comebacks from Daphne. But she was cold, dang it!

"Mmmmm, ronuts!" Slurped Scooby, licking his lips and looking quite silly in his Velma stolen orange wear. Though not the first, not last time Velma figured this might happen.

"Well, if we all steal under Daphne's _donut..._" Earning a side eye from the red head, Fred changed his sentencing as he continued, "under Daphne's king-sized duvet and huddle together till the guy comes. That might work. Sharing our body heat under the blanket for conservation of thermodynamics."

Velma rolled her eyes but snickered at Fred's attempt. "Close enough."

"Well, we could always toss the big blanket into the dryer for like five minutes and then come up here and then huddle together."

Shaggy added to the idea, enjoying the warmth from the swiped sweater but it was starting to wear off and going to leave him colder again. So if they heat up the blanket before hand, it might help trap in the heat to keep them cozy. Like when you have to warm up a blanket on a cold night before sleeping, but skipping the whole part where body heat has to do it's thing and get to the nice heat that you don't want to have to get up from.

"Sounds like a plan! Let's split up gang!" Fred quoted himself with a cheesy grin on his face. Hands stretched out in front of him at the brilliant suggestion.

"_Really...?_" Velma questioned Fred's use of his own famous line here. A single eyebrow raised above her flat line stare. Besides Daphne stealing her blanket, what else were they to do, to 'split up' for?

"Yes really. If we are going to be setting up fort in the living room, then we will need some preparation! You, Scooby and Shaggy nab some pillows or some of the bean bags for us to sit in. While I help Daphne get the giant Duvet out from being tucked into Daph's bed and into the dryer. The thing is pretty big after all. Then we will meet back up and make a warm nesting grounds till the guy comes to fix our heating problem." Fred reasoned out. Plus, it was a perfect plan! One of his!

"I like this plan! Me and Scoob aren't bait and the '_monster_' this time is something we can beat with some blankets and pillows. Count me **in!**" Shaggy grinned ear to ear. Not as nice as a food monsters he could defeat just by eating it... but cold was certainly a beast that was able to be fought off with some layers and close friends.


	2. Candy and Coverlet Conversations

"There we go!"

Dusting his hands off, Fred looked over the finished construction of the blanket nest that they had made. Making a circle of beanbags and pillows, it made a perfect lounging space for the duvet to be tossed over and tucked around them all. Aiming to have the four human members be back to back in pairs, and Scooby to ooze himself around under the blanket surrounding them all. And then sharing the warmth they generated and stole from the dryers work till help arrived.

Each gang claimed a spot, leaning up against one another. The two guys sat beside one another, and the girls faced the other way. Pressing back to back to limit the gaps between them all, Fred sat on a pillow to balance out Velma who was settled higher on a bean bag chair. Making her head land closer to his neck, then more mid back had they been sitting on the same level. With a similar position for Shaggy and Daphne, so they weren't also uneven.

"M_mmmm_, this is nice." Velma rubbed her back into Fred, settling against him and pulling the duvet around herself. Tucking her legs so that she had less to cover and more blanket to go around for the others. Daphne at her side, mushed her weight into Velma's shoulder to get close, and pressed her own back against Shaggy's. Scooby's large head had settled against Daphne's side, with his body leading to where he perched his front chest and paws on Shaggy's lap, and his butt and back legs on Fred's. Oozing around the gang clump as much as he could. But as large as he was, he couldn't pull off making it a full loop. Though Velma was thankful not to have the pleasure to deal with Scooby's tail. As useful as it was most of the time on a mystery, the whole gang had been at the wrong end of an overly eager tail wag from the Dane before. Velma was glad to not have to worry about Scooby getting excited and then having to bat away the waggling tail in her face.

"Ahhhh_hhhhhh**hhhhh...**_" The group sighed, sinking into the nest and one another. Melting into the dryer warmth and the comfy feeling from resting against one reminded them all of traveling together back in their youth, and having to camp out in the back of the van all on top of one another to keep warm those cold winter nights when out on a mystery. But the house was far more leg room, and the pillows and bean bags ensured a far more comfortable surface then the floor of the mystery machine. Even with the heater out.

A moment of blissful silence was shared between them all. Enjoying the soothing group feeling from being burrowed under the toasty covers.

Tilting his head back, Shaggy rested his fluffy hair upon the shoulder of Daphne sitting behind him. Casting a glance up to the ceiling, he listened to the light snoring coming from beside him from Scooby as he thought something over.

"I mean... as nice as this is..." Twisting to look over at the rest of the gang with a side eye, making sure not to more too far and make a gap to release the coveted trapped heat around them all. "... what are we going to do for however long it takes for the repair man to like' arrive?"

"Nap?" Came a murmured comment from the orange neckline that Fred was still burrowed into. Using the turtleneck to cap off where only his neck stuck out from the duvet. Keeping the heat. His head resting backwards on top of Velma's at a slight angle.

"I have an idea!" Rustling around under the comforter, Daphne was searching for something. The blanket wobbled for a while and then soon Velma felt like two somethings being pressed into her lap. And then Shaggy was passed something else as well. It was a small, hand held item that rattled around their grasp.

"Velma, pass the box to Fred, so we each have one."

Wiggling to keep the coverlet on them all, Velma managed to pass the cardboard box to Fred successfully. Once Daphne figured that they each had one, she tried to pry open the top of her box.

"So, it's a game. You guys know Whose line is it anyway?" Shaking her head, she forgot who she was talking to. The gang had spend a bunch of time watching reruns together. Oh course they knew what the game was. "Sorry, dumb question. Well, this is off of the shows title game. Where they pull out lines from their pocket. But, since Valentines is right around the corner..."

Shaking the box, she brought attention to it.

"We can use the candy hearts with the little messages on it, instead! And you have to eat the message once you use it, so we limit the possibilities after each question."

"Well, I'm up for it."

"Can't we just nap?"

"Oh come on Fred, nap later. Let's give this a try."

"Ok, Fred, Your turn first. Using the candies, How was your day today, Fred?" Daphne asked, putting the leader on the spot. Prodding him to get Scooby was allowed to nap under the blanket. Fred was going to have to take part too.

"Um..." The whole gang sat waiting, listening to Fred try to get the box open to get at one of the heart shaped, candy messages. Struggling to pull open the top of the package when he couldn't see past the blanket. And didn't want to release the heat away from the warm feeling around him. Though Scooby's butt was certainly helping keep him warm.

"Uhh... My day was... '**Let's Read**.' Um, candy. That is Velma's day, not mine." Fred murmured towards the sugary saying. Having let only his hand have snaked up to show him the message and then popped the edible into his mouth.

"Heh heh, well they all can't be perfect." Shaking her box in her hands, Velma took up the next question as she fiddled with the box to help her think. "Shaggy... um... What do you plan to do later today, once the heat get's back on?"

"I totally plan to work on lunch for later, and after that I will... '**Dream Big**'!" Crunching down on the candy, Shaggy debated that answer. Trying to figure out what sort of 'Big' was in fact the Big the message was talking about. "I could like' dream big for lunch, but what would be what I would dream big about, after food? Hmmm..." Shaggy puzzled, earning a shake from Velma's box.

"Your Big plan will be... '**Best Day**'! Candy, that isn't helping explain things." Velma snorted at the unhelpful message from her box.

"Let me try." Daphne moved to get inside her package, getting it open and pulling out a candy to try to help make a coherent plan for Shaggy. "Shaggy's Dream Big, Best day is... '**You Rock!**' Hm, this is harder then those lines from the pockets in the show."

"I'm pretty sure that the lines from Whose line, are looked over before hand. So, that they can make some actual sense." Fred proposed, thinking about it. It was a show after all, they had people working there that probably took care of such things. Though he had seen that sometimes the audience did help with some of the lines they pulled out from their options. But normally that was for other games, and not this one in particular.

"**Home Run!**" Shaggy spoke up, eating another heart that wasn't helping. "... These candies are a bit all over the place."

"Well, they aren't exactly made for what Daphne was having us use them..." Interrupting Velma's sentence, her pocket buzzed. Fumbling under the blanket, she wrestled to get her cellphone from her pocket and pull it out from under the cover. Hands pressed together to let the least amount of heat out, Velma peered at the screen only inches from her face to see who had sent her something.

"Oh, sounds like the repair guy is almost here." Velma pulled the phone down and wiggled it back into her pocket to be out of the way.

"You should have texted them back... uh." Pulling out another heart, Fred used that to joke with.

"um, '**Say Yes**'. Well, that does make a bit of more sense. Could have been, '**Vouge!**' Vouge? Really? Who is behind the writing of these candies?" Shaking his head, Fred was a bit confused. But he guessed that some of these words were the product of their time. And just kept in there to expand the options that you could pick from the candies.

"The candies were originally used for witty wedding messages." Spoke up Daphne from one side. "...saying such as: 'Married in pink, he will take a drink', 'Married in White, you have chosen right', and 'Married in Satin, Love will not be lasting' or things like that."

"And you aren't totally reading that from the wiki..." Snorted Velma, side eyeing Daphne who had tucked her head into the Duvet and had to have been reading that information from her phone. And at Velma's accusation, Daphne pulled her head out with an exclamation.

"No! I am not reading the wiki! How dare you say such a thing." But her tone with being caught, wasn't helping Daphne's case.

"Sure sure, cheater." Snickered Velma, not that she didn't think about doing the same herself. "What else does it say?"

"Sigh, fine." Caught red handed, Daphne signed and brought up her phone to read easier. "Looks like the candy has been around since eighteen forty seven, but only had the messages printed on them since eighteen sixty six, Dang, that is old. And got their official name of Sweethearts in nineteen o' one, Though apparently wanting to be hip and cool, the company in the early ninetys changed up some of the messages to take out any old terms. Like 'Call me', or 'Fax me'... since I guess that isn't as cool as 'txt me', or probably 'tweet me.' with the youth..."

"Yeesh."

"Yeah, though I guess 'Beep me' is also less popular. Since besides maybe doctors or people in the medical profession... who has a pager now a days?" Daphne pointed out, feeling a bit old.

**_~DING DONG!~_**

Cutting into their conversation, their house doorbell rang. Most likely the repair guy here to fix their boiler. But that meant that Velma would have to get up and flee from the warmth that was the gang pile. Reluctantly though.

"Aw... But well, I better get up." Velma sulked, not wanting to move, having enjoyed the silly interactions they had been having while the gang waited. Enjoying each others warmth and company. But heat is good and something they should get up and running.

"Here Velma!" As Velma got up from the safety of the duvet, Shaggy moved to turn around and present her with a heart. Pressing it into her hand.

"Oh, good idea, here have this one as well!" Copying Shaggy's motion, Fred poured out some hearts and fished around for a message of his own to add to his pals. Though quickly moved to hide back under the covers.

"And one from me too!" Daphne added, munching on a few that didn't make the cut, and pressed her little message into her best friend's open hand.

"Awww..." Given three hearts, Velma tried not to become an embarrassed puddle from the sentiments from her friends. And deal with the repair man with a professional manner.

"**Hurry Back**" from Shaggy,  
"**Waiting for you**" from Fred,  
And "**U Warm me up.**" from Daphne.

Hoping that while the heater would get turned on soon, she would be able to return to the pile of friendship... sitting in the middle of the living room.


End file.
